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Monday, October 26, 2015

Senate Bill 1447 would amend the
Administrative Review Law of the Code of the Civil Procedure to do two things:

(1) Exclude as "parties of record" private citizens who are not acting in
an official capacity and whose participation in proceedings before an
administrative agency is limited to attendance or testimony at a public hearing
or submission of written comments to the agency; and

(2) Require the plaintiff
to send notice of filing of the action by certified mail to those individuals
even though they are not a party of record. The notice must be mailed within two
days of the filing of the action for the decision from which the action to
review is taken. The notice must inform the individual of his or her right to
intervene as a defendant in the action by applying to the court within 30 days
of the mailing of the notice.

If this bill passes, an aggrieved property owner who challenges a zoning decision by an administrative agency (like a zoning board of appeals) would not have to name as a party to the lawsuit all members of the public who attended and testified at the zoning hearing. Instead, the aggrieved property owner would have to send notice to those members of the public within 2 days of filing the administrative review action of their rights to intervene, if they so choose.